Since when have the Turks changed their behavior? My dad used to tell me that the Turks are tolerant and clement. I wonder if their Prime Minister Mr Erdogan is aware of the history of his country.
I feel sorry that Turkey, which is now a member of NATO, conducts its policy not according to the interest of the country but to the personal interest of its elected leader.
The Davos incident should not have happened, especially among leaders and diplomats. In 2009 the world was stunned seeing Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan walking off the stage in protest of a moderator who did not allow him to speak. There are many venues and ways to resolve any difference of view among civilized people and above all among leaders of great nations, such as Turkey.
Then came Prime Minister Erdoğan’s urge to show the Arab World that he is the guy who can protect their interest and eventually become their leader, without first checking if the action he wanted to do in Gaza with the Mavi Marmara fleet was not infringing upon international laws.
Maybe he felt that the Gazean people were oppressed within the Israeli blockade, willfully ignoring the fact that the Israelis have been suffering under the missile attacks launched from Gaza. Even the United Nations declared that the blockade was legal and that the Israelis had to check every ship for missiles or any other weapon.
Wanting to break the blockade without any consideration for the Israeli interest and without any accreditation from the UN or a dialogue with the Israeli government constitutes a breach of the blockade rules. The arrival of the Mavi Marmara fleet was not as Netanyahu said it, a “Love boat” but it had on board activists trained for fight with all kinds of weapons.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is threatening Israel with all kinds of warlike measures - only this kind of threat may be taken very seriously and could lead to a great and dangerous incident between the Israeli and the Turkish war fleets and may cause unnecessary and irreparable damage.
Knowing well the military technology and the capability of the Israeli army, I believe that all this big noise is ridiculous and Turkey knows it. Turkey needs Israel and the Israelis need Turkey. I believe that Erdogan should review the situation with a cool head and in consideration of Turkey’s best interests.
